


Love at First Sight Is Bullshit (And Other Lies Ben Solo Tells Himself)

by kyoloren



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben Solo Is A Mama's Boy, Childhood abuse (mentions of), College parties are where it's all at, F/F, F/M, Finn is bisexual, Phasma is also gay, aged-down characters, poe is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 16:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13574499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyoloren/pseuds/kyoloren
Summary: Ben Solo lets his roommate, Poe, drag him to a dorm party, where he has an all right time and maybe even meets the love of his life. If he believed in that sort of thing, of course.





	Love at First Sight Is Bullshit (And Other Lies Ben Solo Tells Himself)

**Author's Note:**

> So this was uh....idk haha It just sort of came out of me wanting to write exclusively Ben, so I picked a modern setting and it just sort of happened from there. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Lightly edited by me, any mistakes are my own. I hope they're not blatantly obvious!)

Ben leaned back precariously in the dorm desk chair that had  _ DO NOT LEAN BACK _ stamped lightly in the wood. He braced one foot against his desk and the other against the horrifically squeaky bedframe. His head lolled back, his ears taking in the sounds of Friday night.

It was the first Friday of the semester, after three days of “Syllabus week” where you really didn’t do anything other than go over the syllabus and get assigned some reading to do over the weekend that everyone would cram into Sunday night or Monday morning before class.

There was some party music leaking down the hallway from another dorm and, even though his room was on the second floor, he could hear gaggles of girls dressed in ridiculously short dresses giggling as they walked down the sidewalk.

The chair made a clunk against the tile floor when Ben’s dorm room door opened and his roommate walked in, fresh from the shower. Poe Dameron was Ben’s first roommate back in freshmen year, and while they were polar opposites, they got along like two peas in a pod, as his grandmother Padme would say.

Ben glanced away just in time to miss a full on view of Poe’s manicured pubes and stared at the photo of him and his mom tacked above his desk. “You planning on going out?” Ben asked, chancing a glance over his shoulder.

Poe had on pants now, but he was debating between two shirts. At least his balls weren’t hanging out anymore. “Hell yeah, man. You should come with.” He decided on a maroon button down that he barely bothered to button.

“I was thinking of skipping and just eating my weight in dining hall mac-and-cheese,” Ben said, even though that wasn’t what he was planning on doing. He was more likely to sit here, doing his readings for two classes and getting ahead on some worksheets for another. Maybe he’d call his mom to check in if she settled into the new place okay…

“No way.” Poe’s hand came down on Ben’s shoulder and he leaned down to look him right in the eye. “Finn met this new chick in his Psych class. Said she’s an international student.”

Ben stared at his best friend with a blank look. “And?”

“Dude!” Poe shoved Ben’s shoulder and nearly spun around in annoyance, his arms flinging out from his sides. “You need to get laid.”

“Says who?”

“Says me!”

“You get enough for the both of us. Thanks,” Ben said wryly. He stood up, towering inches over Poe and ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face.

Poe stopped him from walking out of the room with a touch to the chest. “Okay, okay, so a quick lay isn’t your thing. Look, there’s gonna be a lot of people there. Maybe you’ll find  _ the one _ .” He raised his hands and put air quotes around the last two words.

Ben Solo didn’t believe in  _ the one _ . He didn’t believe in love at first sight. He didn’t really give much thought to relationships these days. And while people may say he was too old to be reacting this way over his parents’ divorcing, he couldn’t help it. While his parents weren’t saints and had their arguments, they had been the epitome of true love and all that shit. So if they couldn’t make things work, what was the fucking point?

“The one,” Ben repeated with an eye roll.

Poe was exasperated. “You’re killing me here, Ben. Just...c’mon. It’s the first weekend. Everyone’s having parties. There’s like two hundred parties going on right now.”

Ben weighed his options: stay in his dorm while people played music too loud to drown out, or socialize with some people who would be too drunk to possibly recognize him from the news.

Poe was surprisingly good at mimicking those damn begging eyes that Puss-in-Boots did in Shrek.

With a big sigh, Ben caved. “Fine, fine. Where’s this party?” He walked over to his tiny closet, deciding he should at least change out of his holey Coca-Cola shirt for something a little more presentable. It was hot as Satan’s armpit outside, so he chose a black tee to replace it.

“Over in Jakku,” Poe said flippantly.

Ben paused, face still encased in his shirt. His head popped through the neckhole and he glared. “Jakku? It’s a freakin’ dorm party?”

The only reason Ben was a junior still living in the dorms was because of Poe. Financial aid covered dorm expenses for Poe since he couldn’t afford to rent a house or apartment. Ben didn’t want to live his friend hanging, so he suffered through dorm life for him.

It wasn’t actually so bad, since he could just walk everywhere and didn’t need to worry about getting on the wrong bus and being late for class. But Ben had to keep up the appearance that he disliked it just so he could use it occasionally as leverage over Poe.

“You’re dragging me out to a party and it’s not even a house party?”

Poe shrugged, leaping up and hooking an arm around Ben’s shoulders, forcing him to hunch over. “It’s in Jakku, which means it’s a suites setup. It’s basically an apartment. And we don’t even have to bring any booze.”

Ben was about ready to take back his agreement.

“And think! Cute, international student. She probably has an accent.”

Ben groaned and shook his head.

Poe moved to stand in front of him and took Ben’s shoulders in his hands. “Do it for me! And Finn. We’re your crew.”

Ben scoffed. “I feel bad for this girl getting pulled into you and Finn’s antics.”

Poe broke into a crooked smile. “That doesn’t sound like a no…”

“Fuck off,” Ben muttered, though he turned around and pulled their door open. Harsh light from the hall fell into their room.

Poe pounded him on the back with the palms of his hands as he pulled on nice shoes and nearly danced to the door. “C’mon, man!”

Ben swooped down to pull open a drawer in his desk to grab a joint, pocketing it and leaving after Poe, locking their door. Their RA, Paige Tico, was also part of Finn and Poe’s little group by extension. She’d decorated everyone’s doors with little globes and their names in hand-written calligraphy.

It was nice, but looked like it took way too much time to warrant only being up for three and a half months.

Ben shook his head and followed after Poe as they traipsed down two flights of stairs and out into the warm September air.

The Jakku dorm was on the far north-east side of campus. It was basically the longest walk from Naboo, Ben and Poe’s dorm, to anywhere on campus. Once the sun set, the disgusting humidity in the air settled so at least they weren’t drenched with sweat once they got there.

Poe spent half the walk texting Finn and the other half telling Ben about something horrible that happened to him in Engineering earlier in the day. By the time they got to Jakku, Poe let out a shudder. “I’m about to drop the class so I don’t have to face everyone.”

Ben shook his head and put both hands on Poe’s shoulders, forcing him toward the building so they could slip in with some kids who had a keycard that would open the door. “I don’t think you should drop it. You’ll just have to take it next semester and it’ll put you behind.”

Poe heaved a sigh as they walked into the building and waited for the elevator. It was a few minutes before nine, which meant that they didn’t have to be signed in by someone who lived in the building by the security desk already set up right in front of the elevators.

Ben and Poe squished onto the elevator with ten other people. Numerous floor buttons were pressed and most of them got off on 4 with the two of them. The second the doors slid open, Ben could hear the nondescript sounds of bass-amplified party music from down the hall.

Poe’s worry about his classes instantly faded and he strode down to the left. Ben trailed behind.

It wasn’t that Ben  _ wasn’t _ a party person, but he definitely preferred house parties. There was more space and usually fewer freshmen and he could always just go sit outside under the stars when he needed a second to breathe.

But Poe was his best friend and he wanted to be a good friend this year.

The first half hour of the party kind of happened without a lot of thought. There were two dorm suites across the hall from each other hosting the same party. Each suite had a large common room, five bedrooms and a three-stall bathroom. Add a kitchen and yeah, they’d practically be apartments, Ben would give Poe that.

There were more drinks than anyone would need; beer, liquor—the cheap and the good stuff—and Jello shots. Lots of Jello shots. Ben downed three shots but he wasn’t a big drinker, so he brushed off Poe who shoved a glass that was mostly vodka into his hand.

He saw a few people he knew casually, chatted with some people about menial stuff: first week laughs, summer stories. No one was drunk enough yet to have a slurred conversation.

“Is Finn here yet?” Ben asked after the forty-five minute mark. He had to lean close and talk directly into Poe’s ear because the music was so loud.

Poe glanced at his phone, shook his head and yelled back. “Not yet. Said he’d be five minutes!”

Ben rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna check out the other side of the party,” he said before snaking his way through the hall to the door leading to the main corridor. He stepped outside, letting a loud burst of music out into the rest of the building.

He heard the RA yell at them to not have open alcohol in the hall but didn’t see who the voice belonged to. The hall was scattered with various ages of students; some dressed up nicely, some not so much.

Ben’s eyes swept from the left side of the hall down to the right, back where the elevators were. His eyes fell on an unfamiliar face, and Ben swore that everything went startlingly quiet for about two seconds. She had short, wavy brown hair and was wearing a gold miniskirt and a black top and boots that made her look nearly six feet tall.

_ Damn _ .

He blinked and she motioned toward the door opposite him. “Is this where the party is?” she asked, raising her voice over the sound of the music.

It took him a second to realize she was talking to him. “Yeah,” he said, shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. “Either side, take your pick.”

She flashed him a nervous smile. “I’m new here,” she said, stepping closer so she didn’t have to yell. “I was supposed to meet someone here but I have no idea where to find him.”

Now that he was close, Ben could hear the slight lit of an English accent laced through her words. “Finn?” he suggested.

She nodded and her face brightened. “Finn, yes! You know him?”

“You could say that. He’s dating my roommate,” Ben said with a shrug. Finn and Poe had been dating on and off since freshmen year and Ben could never keep track of when they were together or when they weren’t. Only when they were, he was perpetually annoyed because he spent half his semester snoozing in the basement common room to avoid walking into any sexual interactions occurring upstairs. It had happened more than once in freshmen year and he quickly learned to just stay far away at all costs.

“Cool,” the girl said. “I’m Rey, by the way.”

“Ben,” he said, before taking a step forward and pulling open the door to the suite he’d yet to check out.

Naturally, most of the people he knew at this party were on this side. The music was a little less obtrusive, and there was a bit more room and a bit more dancing going on. Ben spotted Grace Phasma across the room—she was hard to miss considering she was taller than even Ben. As captain of the women’s basketball team, she was popular and she was tied with Poe for the title of “Slept With The Most People On Campus”. Ben had been one of those people in freshmen year, back before Phasma decided she was solely into girls.

He didn’t take it personally. 

 

Okay, he did, but only for a few weeks and then she explained it to him and was really nice about it and they were on friendly terms by now.

“Do you know where Finn is?” Rey asked, leaning closer to him to she didn’t have to raise her voice.

Her breath was soft against his face. He blinked wildly as his eyes scanned the common room. There were people crammed down the hall in between the bathroom and bedrooms that he couldn’t see but he doubted Finn would be there. He liked being the center of attention; which was why he and Poe got along so well. And probably why they argued a lot too. Two attention hogs in a relationship was destined for disaster.

“No here yet,” Ben told her. And then he asked, “Where are you from?” like an idiot, his words falling like bricks from his mouth. He tried not to visibly cringe at himself. “You’re an international student right?”

She nodded, accepting a drink from someone. It was a Mike’s Hard and it had the lid on it still. She twisted it off as she spoke. “London,” she said, still leaning close so he could hear her. “I’m here until July.”

Why someone would choose to come to the frigid Northeast of America when they could have gone to California or something Ben didn’t know. Sure,  _ he _ came to this relatively small but well-known school in Connecticut so that he could get as far away from Northern Cali as he physically could without a passport…but he had totally legit reasons.

“How do you like it so far?” he asked, again cringing. Could this be a more neutral and boring conversation? Next thing he knew, he’d be talking to her about the weather.

She shrugged, a smile flashing on her face as it looked like she spotted someone she knew in the crowd. “It’s nice so far!” she got out before three girls nearly tackled Rey.

Ben knew all of them—the Tico’s, Rose and Paige, and Korr Sella, who looked particularly drunk already.

“Hey, Ben?” Paige said, questioningly. She had been his RA last year too, and it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t that big of a party person. She must have had the night off duty, which was the only time RAs ever got the chance to go to parties and have any fun.

Rose and Rey must have already knew each other, because they instantly started gushing in some girl speak that transcended the Atlantic ocean but that went straight over Ben’s head.

“I didn’t know you were coming to this!” Rose squeaked, holding her red solo cup above her head to avoid it getting knocked out of her hand by someone drunkenly walking by with a mason jar filled with what smelled like moonshine.

Gross.

“Do you know Ben?” Rey said, waving back at him.

Ben met Rose’s eyes and gave her a small smile.

Rose, however, beamed and nodded. “Yeah! Are you here with him?”

Rey shrugged and shook her head at the same time. “Someone named Finn invited me.”

Ben was almost sad for Rey getting caught up within this entire group of people. Sure, they were his friends, but they were complicated and had messy relationships and Rey had no idea what she was walking into.

“Finn? You mean… _ Finn _ Finn? Poe’s Finn?” Korr slurred, leaning in close to Rey. She’d somehow ended up next to Ben and was gripping his arm to keep from falling over.

“Finn?” Rose repeated.

“I think so,” Rey laughed, glancing back at him for…help?

Flustered, Ben just nodded, wishing he had a drink in hand to distract himself with.

Rose continued. “Finn is really sweet. We went out freshmen year. It’s how we met.”

Rey frowned. “Isn’t he gay?”

Rose, Paige and Korr all laughed as if that was the funniest thing they’d heard. Even Ben let a chuckle slip out.

“No,” Rose said.

“Oh,” Rey said, confusion wrinkling her forehead. It was cute. Dangerously cute. “That’s nice that you’re still friends with your ex.”

Rose nodded. “He’s great. So is Poe. We’ll all probably go get pizza later.”

“You okay?” Paige asked Ben just as Rose and Korr dragged Rey toward the middle of the common room. There was just enough room to sort of jump-dance, which a few people were doing.

Paige was the same age as Poe, a year older than Ben, but she’d started college at the same as her little sister, Rose. She was quiet and mature; the perfect mixture for an RA.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Ben said, giving her a weak smile.

She squeezed his arm and walked off, sliding into a corner to chat with someone. Ben hovered near the doorway. He debated going to look for a drink of some kind, or going across the way to see if Finn had arrived and to check in on Poe.

He tried not to watch Rey through the dim lights. Someone had hung up Christmas lights with tape and 3M strips, throwing multiple colors over the simple dancing forms of quite a few girls in the middle of the room.

Ben caught Grace Phasma’s eye across the room again. She tilted her head—her white-blonde hair looked pink but maybe that was just the Christmas lights—to the side and her eyes went wide just before a hand slammed down on the back of Ben’s neck and Armitage Hux walked around to Ben’s side.

Hux, Armie to his friends, was a thin, pale specimen with red hair who was not only an asshole on the hockey field, but a completely maniacal bastard off the ice. He’d been the one to leak Ben’s story from California at the end of freshmen year that had nearly cost him all of his friends if they hadn’t trusted Ben and also known that Hux was a fucking piece of shit.

Any fuzzy feelings he felt with the occasional spied flashes of smile or laughter from Rey and Co. went immediately away, replaced with ice.

What the fuck was Hux even doing at a dorm party? He was a senior, and he was a  _ jock _ . Shouldn’t he be at his own house party?

“How’s it going, Solo?” Hux asked, gripping the back of Ben’s neck for a few more seconds before letting go and circling around to face him. It was a party and there was limited space so Hux had an excuse to get up into Ben’s personal space.

“Fine until you showed up,” Ben said shortly.

It looked like Hux had brought a few of his buddies. They all looked a whole lot less drunk than the rest of them. If they showed up just for Ben, how’d they known where he’d be?

“Aww. I’m touched.” Hux stepped forward, forcing Ben back. He patted invisible dust off of Ben’s shoulders. “So I had a question…”

Here it was. Ben felt a bit of panic build up in his chest, even though he knew that no one else could hear what Hux was saying. That wasn’t the point, not at all.

Ben was no pacifist, but he had already worked through the anger stage of recovery and he didn’t want to slip back into that.

Hux leaned close, looking up at Ben with cold blue eyes. “Do you uh…write letters or some shit to that Snoke guy? To keep his prison cell nice and warm?”

Ben didn’t even have to punch him. Grace showed up behind Hux, slipping her muscular arm around his neck from behind and squeezing so hard that he choked and wheezed.

“Are you really fucking crashing this party, fuckwad?” she said, loud enough so everyone could hear.

Hux tried to pry Phasma’s arm away from his neck. “Get off me, you overgrown freak.”

She met Ben’s eyes. He took a step to the side so when she shoved Hux forward, he hit the door leading to the corridor. His face made contact with the door with a  _ thud _ . Ben heard it hit from where he stood.

Cursing under his breath, Hux and his fellow jocks left the party. The murmurs of the party crowd rose to a high level again. It had never really stopped, and only Rose and Paige and Grace were the ones in the room who had any inkling of what had just transpired.

“Ben?” Phasma asked, reaching forward but thinking better of it.

Ben swallowed hard, shoving his hands into his pockets again. “Thanks,” he said, genuinely. “I’m gonna go for a smoke.”

She nodded as he fumbled with the door handle and stepped into the hall. Everyone had made their way into one of the two suites, leaving the space empty. He took in a few cooler breaths of air and walked shakily to the elevator. No one was heading down, so he got it to himself. Pushing the “B” button, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes until the doors opened.

The vending machines were full and operational across from the elevator. He walked past them and to the left where the main common room was. There were couches, two TVs, a ping-pong table and a full kitchen around the corner. Two people were in the kitchen, but Ben ignored them.

He walked over to one of the windows, which looked out into the dark slope of grass. The sills down here were wide enough to sit on. He sat and pushed down the window so the smoke would go outside.

Pulling the joint and a lighter out from his pocket, he lit it, took a hit and leaned his head back against the cool window.

Every day, he told himself that he was fine, that he was doing better. But all it took was one fucking asshole to ruin everything.

Which made him wonder if he was really fine at all or if it was just one big elaborate lie that he kept repeating, hoping it would come true.

His hand itched to call his mom, but before he could, someone said his name.

He cracked open an eye and then suddenly sat up straight. It was Rey, of all people, standing there looking overdressed among the threadbare furniture and cracking paint on the walls.

“Hey,” he said, though his throat was froggy. He cleared it and cursed at himself.

“You okay?” she asked, taking a step closer. Her skirt shimmered with every step.

He was about to say  _ yeah _ , but he paused to think first instead. “You saw all that?” He waved up toward the ceiling.

She shrugged and walked until she could rest the palm of her hands on the windowsill. “I saw  _ something _ . What was that about?” She glanced from his face to his hand and tentatively held out a hand.

“You want some? It’s really weak shit,” he mentioned, handing over the joint.

She took a hit and blew it out toward the window before hopping up next to him. “So, what’s the deal?”

He had no idea what made him do it. He was going to school all the way across the country just to cut down on the chance that people his age would  _ know _ about the things that happened to him. He worried his parents by being so far away—he always told himself that  _ he _ was the reason for their divorce, which was probably about 85% true—and he tried to pretend as if he was a different person here. He was still  _ Ben _ but he was  _ Ben Censored _ .

But here was this girl he barely knew, with freckles across her tanned skin and her soft little accent and he didn’t know her and she didn’t know him. She wasn’t even from the same country, so he doubted she would have ever heard what happened. It would be nice for one person to not know—Hux ruined it for him, so now the whole school knew but most were kind enough not to bring it up  _ ever _ —but then again, it would mean more lies.

Because it  _ did _ happen to him and it had, for better or worse, influenced who he was now.

Ben took the weed back to give himself a little bit more of self-medicated courage to say the words out loud, willingly. She didn’t even push him or pry.

And god damn she was really beautiful in the soft yellow lights down here.

“You know those TV shows about like, kids who get abducted and rescued, years later?” he asked, before filling his lungs again. She studied his face, waiting for a punchline. “Well…” He motioned toward himself.

It took a second for his words to sink in. He could practically read her face like a book as they did. A hint of confusion, processing, and then shock and surprise.

“Seriously?” she asked, her voice hushed even though there was no one else around.

He nodded.

“Well shit,” she said, taking the joint again. She used it to eat up time, he was sure. He was waiting for the questions to start, like they had with Poe and even Paige. They hadn’t been unkind, but it was uncomfortable to talk about. Rose and Finn had stopped them from peppering him once they noticed he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Rey blew smoke out the window, opened her mouth and then thought better of it and took another hit. After, she made a face and handed it back to him. “Let’s not let me have more of that, yeah?”

Ben took the roll back and waited, again for questions. But none came. She didn’t ask how old he’d been—twelve—or who had done it—a neighbor who was close to his uncle—or how long he’d been taken for—one year, seven months, three days. She didn’t say she was sorry, which did nothing for him but remind him of how  _ fucked up _ it made him.

“Did that jock guy bring it up?” she finally asked, as if she’d been carefully constructing a sentence that would ease her curiosity but not actually upset him even more.

“Yeah,” Ben breathed out. “He Googled some shit and found out at the end of freshmen year. Told the whole school. Somehow didn’t lose his hockey scholarship. Continues to think it’s a game or something.”

She made a face. “Wanker.”

Ben flicked a tiny bit of ash through the sliver of open window near the sill. “So that’s my tragic story,” even though he hadn’t told her really anything at all about it, “your turn.”

She laughed a little, hooking her ankles together and swinging her legs. The heels of her boots brushed against the carpet. “Let’s see. Dad was never there. Mum left me at a metro stop at eleven. I somehow ended up being taken in by this crazy old lady, Maz Katana. A family friend or something. She was incredibly rich, no kids, never married. Totally insane. She didn’t so much as raise me as give me a place to live and a slew of garbage life advice, but she did pay for me to come over to America so here I am.” She glanced over at him and she saw sparkles along her cheekbone. Did girls still use  _ glitter _ ? “Nothing as crazy as your shit, but it’s my life so…”

There were a few more hits left, so he put out the end against the outside brick underneath the window and held the warm little packet of thin paper and weed in his palm.

She hadn’t asked him a million questions about his ordeal. She had her own baggage, but didn’t try to unload on him either way. She was god damn beautiful and Ben hadn’t met anyone he felt so instantly connected to since he walked in to find Poe taping a Magic Mike poster on his side of the dorm room on freshmen orientation day. (The Magic Mike poster had nothing to do with the closeness. Ben was—fairly certain—that he was straight.)

“God, I think I love you,” he said. Because he was an idiot. And he was a little high. And the weed was having fun with the Jello shots—which he was pretty sure had more alcohol than Jello in them. He was a big guy but he rarely drank so he had the tolerance of a kitten.

Rey laughed, not unkindly, and hopped off the still. Standing on her high, thick heels, she was nearly eye level with him. “Well, if that’s the case, maybe you should take me out on a date,” she said, as if this was the natural progression expected of every relationship.

Ben started at her. She eventually raised sharp, dark eyebrows, waiting for a response. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah,” she said with a bob of her head. “You sound pretty serious. I’m serious. We’re all serious here.” Something twinkled in her eye. A bit of humor.

“Right now?” he asked. He was horrible at this. He wasn’t really up for relationships. Or randomly sleeping around. But of all the things he’d done at college so far, it was the latter of the two. He never even really got to  _ dates _ .

She laughed again and reached forward, offering him her hand. “Maybe like an  _ actual _ date when I’m not about to topple over in these damn shoes and I’m a little less tipsy.”

He stood, shoving the stub of the joint in his pocket and wiping his palm off on his jeans. Ben lifted his hand and touched hers. Her skin was soft and warm and she curled her fingers around his hand.

“Do you and your friends go somewhere after parties?” She glanced around and saw the time on the clock over by the kitchen. “It’s only ten thirty. How late do you usually stay at parties?”

“Are you a party person?” Ben had honestly no idea how he was feeling right now, holding hands with a pretty girl in the basement of a dorm while his friends drank and smoked and danced upstairs.

Rey shrugged, crinkling up her nose. “Occasionally.”

“We usually go out for pizza once we leave a party,” he said, remembering Rose’s words earlier. “There’s this place that’s open until two-am and has $2 slices.”

She grinned then, her smile lighting up the entire room. Like a sun or something. Ben wasn’t that great at poetry.

“Pizza is good,” she said, tugging him slowly toward the elevators. “Think we can gather everyone up now?”

“Maybe by eleven,” Ben said. To be honest, Poe and Finn could both party until 3AM with vigor. But with Rose  _ and _ Paige—and he may invite Phasma along if she wanted to leave—they could probably convince the two lovebirds to break away early.

Rey laughed, all light and magical. Did English girls laugh differently than American girls?

The elevator ride was quiet, but that good kind of quiet where Ben felt like he was 10, trying to pluck up the courage to give this girl in his class a valentine because he had a crush the size of Jupiter on her.

As the doors opened, Rey took his hand again and stepped out, turning around to walk clumsily backward so she could see his face. “You know, Ben,” she said, frowning in mild concentration. She stopped walking too, which was good because he wasn’t sure if he’d be fast enough to catch her if she toppled. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For telling me. You didn’t have to. I’m guessing you kept it from everyone before that bastard told everyone?”

He nodded.

She squeezed his hand. “Well then, thank you for telling me yourself. I’m…honored you felt like you could.”

Okay. Maybe he actually wasn’t that high and drunk. Could he have possibly been wrong all along about falling in love at first sight being absolute bullshit?

He didn’t even know what to say to that.

Luckily, Rey wasn’t fishing for any compliments or whatever, because she turned around again and let go of his hand so she could half run down the hall, yelling “Pizza!” at the top of her lungs, followed by snickers.

Ben found himself laughing along with her and helping her open one of the doors to one of the suites. Inside, they found Poe and others doing shots off of Finn’s stomach while the music pumped loud enough to burst eardrums.

Rey’s eyes widened and Ben heaved a sigh. They’d probably need reinforcements for this to work.

“Here we go,” he muttered.


End file.
